Info on “Life of Gaia”

Yes! This is it!

This is (presumably) what you’ve all been waiting for! An actual update on my writing progress, complete with some information about what exactly it is I’m writing anyway! (Sorry this is so late. Originally I thought I had posted it, but then it turned out I hadn’t. Then I was irrationally nervous about posting it, because, I mean, what if you guys think it’s a stupid idea? Then I was just like, blargh, I’ve got a cold. Now I’m just trying to publish it before I go back to school in a few days.)

Well, let’s see if I can’t shed a bit of light on the subject, mm? Because I think that I can remain vague enough, and that I’m far enough along, that I don’t feel quite so exposed sharing some of my ideas with the world.

Life of Gaia (no connection to Life of Pi, although I can’t be the only person who noticed the similarity, which is why I thought I’d mention it–I haven’t even read that book) is a project that I have been gestating in my brain for a long time… Since, oh, sophomore year of high school? I mean, I have older ideas, but just know that this isn’t a brand new idea by any means. It isn’t what I was writing when I started this website. (Although, full disclosure, Mercenary isn’t even what I was working on when I started it, either!) So where did my interest in writing Life of Gaia come from?

Good question, and if I knew I would tell you. I was just mulling over my hopeless inability to get any writing done connected with Mercenary, despite my looming deadline, and then, for no particular reason, I began to think about this older idea. I hadn’t considered it in a long time–I didn’t even have anything written down about it–but it suddenly seemed like the perfect solution to my lack of motivation. And it must have had something, since I wrote about 10,000 words of it in the first four days. That’s almost more than I had written of Mercenary since July! Though I suppose they’re right–when the muse strikes, she strikes hard.

I thought that maybe that bolt of lightning had gone, but maybe not so much. The other night, while up in the wee hours of the morning and telling myself that I would go to bed–it was right after I’d written a blog post, actually–I got smacked by the writing stick again, and proceeded to write another 5,000 words in one go. I was exhausted, but utterly pleased with myself and my progress. If it hadn’t been for all of the other things I had to get done, I dare say I would have written even more.

So what is it about? Well, I’ll give you a few things to chew on. Life of Gaia is another fantasy story. This probably doesn’t seem strange to you, but fantasy has never really been my go-to genre, so the fact that my two main projects at the moment are in that category just strikes my funny bone.

It is set in the (everything is tentatively named) fictional world of Lysaran, where everything has come unbalanced because of the long-reaching plans of a vengeful demi-God. Eramis, the creator of Lysaran, has spent the past thousand years in exile for crimes against the true Gods. In the wake of this threat, however, he has been granted the ability to find the one person who can stop the destruction of his world… Gaia is an orphan who has grown up in the restrictive confines of a monastery, having the same dream every night as long as she can remember. On the day the dream changes, her entire life as she knows it ends. What rises from the ashes will have to save Lysaran, or resign it to the darkness forever.

Well, I think you get the general picture. 🙂

I have my word-count goal as 25,000 on the counter, but I can already tell that the first draft will be much longer than that. Hopefully it will be closer to 50,000 when everything is said and done, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a little less. (I tend to include a lot of unnecessary things when I write, that will theoretically be removed in editing–if I ever get that far!)

At this point, I think the biggest difference I have with Life of Gaia from everything I’ve written up till this point is that I’ve managed to convince myself that it doesn’t matter. (Does that make any sense at all?) I mean, it’s not one of my big, amazing, possibly-award-winning ideas. It’s just something I’m writing that I haven’t thrown a whole lot of hope into. And I think that’s what has finally freed me up to get further with it than anything else. Less pressure, you know? I don’t feel like I have to be on-point 100% with this book, because it isn’t one of my flawless brain children. It’s just… fun? This is an attitude I hope to continue having as I work my way through the project, and even into what comes next. (Fingers crossed.)

As for that, well. That’s probably the biggest question point. I’d never really considered self publishing before… Not because I think there’s anything wrong with it, just because I always figured that wasn’t for me. I was going to write those BIG FANCY IDEAS into books, and then, you know, sell them the traditional-publishing way. But Life of Gaia wasn’t made for that… And yet I still want it to be out there. So, for the first time, I’m starting to really consider the self-publishing route.

I’m not completely clueless about it–a lot of the people whose blogs I follow are going the self-publishing avenue, in varying degrees, which has no doubt been infinitely useful in helping me get an idea of the path I would be on. When I envisioned Gaia I saw a lengthier story, but have it split into six or seven smaller, novella-sized chunks. I would probably just doctor them up the best I could, maybe hire a freelance editor and someone to do a series of covers, then put them up on the mass e-book sites for .99 or 1.99. Nothing majorly pricey. That’s not really the point with these. Maybe, once I got around to finishing the whole series, I would compile them into a book or couple of books that could be purchased through a site like Lulu.com. But this is all just speculating for the future. That’s still so many steps away. But this is the closest I’ve ever been to that future, so I’m kind of excited. 🙂

So! What do you think? I realize it’s not much, but does it sound even the least bit interesting? Any tips for (potential future) self-publishing from veterans? Does this sound like a good idea, or should I give it all up and go into accounting? (My cousin is going to make $22 an hour interning for that. Okay, I don’t write for money, but still, 22$!) Or comment about something completely unrelated! I don’t care! I just like chatter!

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12 thoughts on “Info on “Life of Gaia””

It’s so much easier to write when you can get rid of all the pressure. Kudos to you for making that happen! And yeah, by the way, Life of Gaia sounds really interesting; I can’t wait! I think self-publishing is a great option for something like this that you’re just having fun with. Although, and I’m sure you already know this, DON’T SKIMP on the editing and cover design. This is what separates good self-publishing from bad. Also, and this is personal advice, be extra careful with the first page, first paragraph, and first sentence. When I’m reading a sample of a self-published book, I usually judge by the end of the first paragraph whether it’s worth my time or not.

Aw, thank you Grace! 🙂 That’s quite encouraging! And I swear, no skimping! I want to add to the list of great self-published options, not the ‘well I could self-publish it, so it’s basically a first-draft’ pile. x) That would be AWFUL. But yeah–I just always felt so much pressure for my other writing endeavors to be amazing, you know? THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, blah blah blah. But since I’ve never even FINISHED a book before, I feel like I needed an idea I could just be like ‘eh’ about, and not have all that performance anxiety. 🙂 And yes, ma’am! You’re right. Especially when there are so many options for self-published books that someone could be reading, all of the first impressions are ultra-important, I would imagine. ^^

I think this idea sounds fantastic! I love the idea of a God in exile – you can have so much fun with that. And ever since I read the Redwall series I’ve enjoyed stories set in (or starting in) monasteries. Will Eramis be making appearances throughout the story? It would be really cool if he contacted Gaia occasionally in her dreams, giving her hints or warnings or whatever. And will there be a romance subplot? All stories need a good romance!!! 🙂

Ha ha, thanks! x) Gaia would definitely argue that her monastery is not nearly as interesting as the one in Redwall, ha ha, but I DO love that series. ❤ And PLEASE. What would a story be without a romantic subplot?! You are talking to a certified Hopeless Romantic–seriously, I get the newsletter and everything.
There are actually a lot more characters that get picked up along the way, so… Yeah, it's safe to say hormones will be flying in there. SEVERAL romantic subplots in fact. x) And Eramis actually kind of Yoda-trains Gaia, and then proceeds to constantly follow her around in his non-corporeal state, so… Don't worry, he'll definitely be around. ^^

Non-corporeal following — even better! I was going to suggest something along those lines, but I didn’t want to overstep my advice-giving bounds. Seriously, this story sounds awesome. Let me know if you need a beta reader!

Ha ha ha, no, thanks. 🙂 Your interest is very motivating, and I’m always down for good ideas I might have missed! ^^ I just hope that I do it justice, which I guess is always my worry.. Either way, I will definitely let you know! The more readers the merrier, and from what I can gather we have similar tastes, so I know I could trust your judgement. =D (Plus, y’know, you’ve been through this whole song-and-dance before–isn’t it nice to be on the other side, in Published Author Land? I bet it is, isn’t it?)

Oh dear, I guess that’s true… ^^; Sequels. Such a pain! But I bet it’ll be great. Still… Guess an author’s work is never done. You’d already worked a bit on the sequel, right? How much did you have done?

I have worked on it, yes. I wrote the whole thing, but then I realized that not enough happened. They kind of just wandered around doing things, which, while fun, didn’t make for a satisfying story. So now I’m re-working the second half to include a bit more plot. Not too much, though! Shenanigans must still be had.

Plot + shenanigans–sounds like a winner to me. 🙂 And okay then! At least you have the whole thing done already, and it is just polishing it + making it better that you have to work on. No sitting down to a blank page for you! (Blank pages are awful. I hate them. I usually write several lines/paragraphs of gibberish before I start writing something new, just so I don’t have to look at a blank Word document.)